Nicholas Stern video

Emily kindly sent me a link to the video of Sir Nicholas Stern’s presentation in the Examination Schools at Oxford in February of 2007. I was lucky enough to attend in person; I even got to speak with him at the exclusive reception afterwards. My notes are on the wiki. This is your chance to compare a verbatim record of the talk with my notes and thus determine my particular strengths and failings as a note taker.

The talk is well worth watching, not least because Stern is obviously very well informed and quite a capable speaker. His report is fully deserving of its status as the seminal discussion of the economics of climate change.

“Emissions are growing much faster than we’d thought, the absorptive capacity of the planet is less than we’d thought, the risks of greenhouse gases are potentially bigger than more cautious estimates, and the speed of climate change seems to be faster.”

The economic slowdown has prompted some public and private leaders to question whether the world can afford to address climate change now, while others argue that green investments will stimulate the growth we need. There are thoughtful voices on both sides of the debate. In this exclusive video interview, noted economist Nicholas Stern makes the case for investment.

The interview was conducted by McKinsey’s Matt Hirschland in Brussels on January 26, 2009. Click to watch the video, or read the transcript below.